Why would a non-Muslim want to read the story of Mohammed? For many Westerners, the life of a self-proclaimed Prophet[1], who died more than 1300 years ago in a remote part of the world, might sound not only dull, but also completely irrelevant. In fact it is neither.

During his life Mohammed created a religious and political movement called Islam. A quarter of the world"s population is now Islamic and it is the world"s fastest growing religion by far. Importantly, the influence of this religion currently stretches into more aspects of our societies than most of us realize.

After studying Islamic doctrine and history, it soon became clear that the majority of what we hear about Islam"s goals and its influence on the actions and beliefs of Muslims, is entirely wrong.

This lack of understanding has been the root cause of horrendous policy failures in areas such as the "War on terror," Middle Eastern foreign policy, the Arab- Israeli conflict etc. which tend to dominate our daily news cycle.

It is also clear that the reason for these failures is widespread ignorance of the doctrine of Islam throughout all sections of Western society. This includes politicians, academics, journalists, teachers, right on down to the man in the street. Given the rapidly rising threats from Islamic "extremists" and the growing number of conflicts involving Muslims, this would seem to be a failure of epic proportions.

It is for this reason that I have written this book. I wanted it to be widely read and so made it as simple and entertaining as possible. It is reasonably short and avoids dry theological discussion. If you have an interest in what lies behind the news stories we see every day, you should find it both interesting and relevant.

By the end, you should also have a good grasp of the doctrine of Islam. You will know what this doctrine expects of Muslims and how it affects the societies in which Muslims are living. Most importantly, this knowledge will give you a whole new understanding of issues involving Islam. Conflicts around the globe, terrorism, immigration, treatment of women etc. can never be properly understood without a basic grasp of Islamic doctrine.

Islamic scholars have always known that the key to understanding Islam is the story of Mohammed"s life. This is good news, because Mohammed was an extremely interesting character.

Unlike any other prophet, Mohammed was also a political and military leader. He insisted that Muslims should fight when called upon to put Islam in control of the whole world. During the last nine years of his life, he and his followers were involved in acts of violent conquest on average once every seven weeks.

By the time he died, he was the King of all Arabia with not a single enemy left standing. The key to his success was a new system of warfare called Jihad which Westerners usually translate as "Holy War," but which is in fact far more than this.

More is known about Mohammed than any other religious leader[2]. Strangely however, even in the Islamic world, few people know his story. This is not an accident. The life of Mohammed is the perfect example for all Muslims to follow. As such, it is the basis for the Islamic religion itself. You would expect then, that Muslims would be as familiar with Mohammed as Christians are with Jesus. This is not the case however.

Young Muslims are taught to recite the Koran in Arabic but are sternly dissuaded from understanding its meaning. Four fifths of Muslims do not even speak modern Arabic, let alone the archaic form the Koran is written in.

Generally speaking, only those Muslims who are committed enough to want to become Islamic Religious leaders or "Imams" learn about Mohammed"s life. The rest are expected to follow directions from these leaders who tend to keep this knowledge to themselves.

Today, Muslim populations are exploding across the world as Western birth rates plummet. More than ninety percent of all wars and armed conflicts today involve Muslims. The great majority of terror attacks (more than twenty thousand just in the nine years since 9/11[3]) are also carried out by Muslim Jihadists.

The largest and most influential block of countries in the UN (despite their current lack of veto powers) are the fifty seven members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. These nations also control the lion"s share of the planet"s dwindling oil reserves.

In years to come these trends will almost certainly accelerate. This will give Islam increasing power, not just in the lives of Muslims, but also in the lives of non-Muslims. Unbelievers will increasingly find themselves constricted by laws and demands which reflect this growing influence.

This expanding Islamic power and influence is going to affect you, your children and your grandchildren. If you want to know, "how" and "why" then this book is the quickest and easiest way to find out.

For those seeking a more serious understanding of this complex subject, this book is an excellent first step. It will set you in the right direction and serve as a solid foundation.

Tony Blair, George Bush and most other world leaders, academics, journalists and opinion formers in the Western world insist that Islam is a religion of peace which has a few violent radicals, angry at Western foreign policy.

Ayatollah Khomeini devoted his entire life to the study of Islamic doctrine. He became the spiritual and religious leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the foremost religious authority for the entire Shiite world (differences between Shia and Sunni Islam are fairly superficial). Here is what he had to say about Islam and warfare.

"But those who study Islamic Holy War will understand why Islam wants to conquer the whole world. Those who know nothing of Islam pretend that Islam counsels against war. Those (who say this) are witless."

Read the story of Mohammed for yourself and see if you can figure out who is right.

[1] Mohammed insisted that he was the final Prophet of Allah (God). People who believe him are called Muslims. People who don"t are called non-Muslims (the Arabic word is "Kaffir").